Though it isn’t necessarily African-American, we have another float in February’s constitutional history parade.

On Sunday, Emory University taught us that it’s important to include the word “repugnant” when discussing the three-fifths outlined in the U.S. Constitution. On Monday, we found out that Mississippi, 147 years later, has ratified the 13^th Amendment outlawing slavery.

Today we have a look at H.R. 273, a measure authored by state Rep. Kevin Cooke, R-Carrollton, urging repeal of the 17^th Amendment. That’s the one mandating the popular election of U.S. Senators, passed in 1913.

Given that Georgia voters have twice defeated efforts to make the state school superintendent an appointed, rather than elected position, there’s not much chance that this measure would go anywhere.

But it has been endorsed by the likes of Zell Miller, and like the Fair Tax, has become a favorite lost cause of talk radio audiences. Here’s the history lesson, from Winston Jones and the Times-Georgian of Carrollton:

Dr. Robert Sanders, University of West Georgia political science professor, said the reason the 17th Amendment was passed was to stop widespread corruption that was rampant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“There was a lot of corruption from interest groups who were buying state legislators,” Sanders said. “The legislators were easy to buy out and the interest groups could get who they wanted for U.S. Senators.”

He called the current move to appeal the amendment “a step backwards” and “a step by one party to find another way to stay in power by circumventing the process.”

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An effort is underway by Democrats in middle Georgia to urge U.S. Justice Department scrutiny of legislation making Macon/Bibb County elections a nonpartisan affair. From the Macon Telegraph:

In a letter being sent this week addressed to assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, members of the party accuse the legislation of being a “veiled attempt to thwart democracy” by diluting minority voting.

….The letter in part accuses the local delegation of a “bait-and-switch,” saying voters approved the consolidation bill last July while it still had partisan elections in it. Local Democrats said Monday that if the Legislature wanted to make a change, it should have presented a referendum to local voters before passing the legislation.

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Intelligence sources say a Shanghai-based unit of the People’s Liberation Army is behind the methodical hacking of computers operated by the U.S. government and the country’s largest businesses. From the New York Times:

The building off Datong Road, surrounded by restaurants, massage parlors and a wine importer, is the headquarters of P.L.A. Unit 61398. A growing body of digital forensic evidence — confirmed by American intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of the army unit for years — leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American corporations, organizations and government agencies originate in and around the white tower.

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If that doesn’t keep you up tonight, then try the topic of home-manufactured military-style assault rifles. From the Washington Post:

Twenty minutes into his State of the Union address last week, President Obama entered the realm of uber-geekery — three-dimensional printing. The magical devices capable of printing prosthetics, violins and even aircraft parts have the potential, the president said, “to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”

Forty miles away from the Capitol, in Glen Burnie, Md., Travis Lerol is proving Obama’s point — with guns.

In a spare bedroom, where an AR-15 rifle leans against the wall, Lerol is using a 3-D printer no larger than an espresso machine to make plastic rifle parts and ammunition magazines in between tea sets and chess pieces. The parts print, layer over layer, creating objects like an ink-jet printer etches words.

There's a great video to go with it.

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The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at the claim by President Barack Obama – made last week in Atlanta – that “every dollar we invested in high-quality, early education programs can save more than $7 later on by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing crime."